


for we are still the same, after all

by mistykasumi (oultrepreu)



Category: Prince of Tennis
Genre: 100-1000 Words, Alternate Reality, Future Fic, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-04
Updated: 2006-12-04
Packaged: 2017-10-03 09:50:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oultrepreu/pseuds/mistykasumi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the pro circuit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	for we are still the same, after all

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [](http://sugaahcube.livejournal.com/profile)[**sugaahcube**](http://sugaahcube.livejournal.com/). Once upon a time, you requested this. I hope you enjoy this and feel better soon. :) And yeah, there's implied stuff up the wazoo in this.

When Tezuka meets Echizen again on the pro circuit, his first thought is _he's a lot bigger than I thought_. Echizen moved at the end of junior high, and Tezuka has not seen him since then. He is no longer the short, cocky _kid_ Tezuka remembers.

Echizen is still lean, but he's only a head shorter than Tezuka now. His smirk is familiar, though, and so is the expression in his eyes. _Tezuka_\- Echizen begins, and Tezuka can almost hear the -"_buchou_ Echizen had been about to use, the -"_buchou_ that Echizen keeps from escaping at the last moment. There is a pause as he tries to find the right honorific to use, and finally, he ends it with -"_san_.

_Echizen_, Tezuka says, and included in that name are many things he does not say. He had put his hopes in Echizen once, and Echizen did not disappoint him. Seigaku had won the junior high division of Nationals all three years Echizen was there.

They have not played each other since that one and only time near the train station. This is their rematch. Tezuka still has more experience and skill, but Echizen has always been full of surprises, and Tezuka knows not to underestimate him. If those games back in junior high were his reason to breathe, then the pro games are his reason to live.

The game is not a slaughter, but neither is it equal. Echizen has improved, but Tezuka has improved more. The score is decent enough, six to three in Tezuka's favor, and Tezuka will continue into the quarterfinals.

They shake hands at the net. _Buchou_, Echizen finally says, and it is an acknowledgment of several things. Tezuka accepts it because neither of them has fundamentally changed.

Yukimura is waiting for Tezuka on the sideline. He smiles at them with his usual edge and congratulates them on a good game, then invites them to eat with him and Sanada. Tezuka knows better than to refuse, and although Echizen does not reply, he follows them.

Having Echizen there with them reminds Tezuka a little of the old days. Echizen is not a kid anymore, but he will always be a kid to them, the genius kid with his almost justified arrogance. He blinks when they enter the extravagant restaurant and smirks when he sees Sanada, already seated, and Tezuka can almost hear the _mada mada da ne_ hanging in the air.

_He is not the same as us_, Yukimura had told him once, when Echizen had first entered the pro circuit. _There is a purpose behind his tennis_. Tezuka understood what Yukimura did not say, but he made Echizen the pillar of Seigaku, and faced with the same situation, he would do it again. Echizen is not the same as them, but that does not have to mean that he is different.

Tezuka has become familiar with Yukimura and Sanada in these few years. He is not familiar with Echizen, but Tezuka feels a connection with Echizen that does not exist between him and anyone else, not Yukimura or Sanada. They have the same type of strength, the strength that enabled them to become pillars, and Tezuka has never met anyone else with that kind of strength.

After the late lunch, Yukimura smiles in that way of his and says, _thank you for coming, Echizen. It's good to see Tezuka with company_. Tezuka knows that Yukimura means many things with those words the way he usually does with everything he says. Echizen does not reply. Yukimura's smile turns predatory, and he says, _I look forward to playing you_. Tezuka hears what he does not say, the _if you ever reach me_, and that is Yukimura's challenge. As he and Sanada leave, though, Echizen says _mada mada da ne_, and that almost brings Tezuka back to junior high because it reminds him that Echizen could never be taken at face value.

After Yukimura and Sanada leave, Tezuka turns to Echizen and prepares to say goodbye, and Echizen says, _it was good playing you, buchou. I'll win one day_. Tezuka hears what Echizen does not say, and as he leaves, he says, _I look forward to it, Echizen_.

06.12.04


End file.
